The Invention of Christmas Lights

Name of Invention: Electric Christmas Lights (1)

Invented by: Edward Johnson

When: 1882

Why did this person invent the item? What problem did this invention solve? What was the motivation?

(2) The tradition of lighting Christmas trees originated in Germany in the middle of the 17^th century. Melted wax was used to hold small candles to the branches of the trees. Eventually, the custom spread through Eastern Europe and other parts of the world, including the United States. As time passed, special metal candle holders were manufactured to keep the candles on the tree in place. One can assume that using candles on highly flammable trees, such as the pine was dangerous and could only be done for very short periods of time.

The Christmas lights were invented for safety reasons, and because at the time light bulbs were still new and unusual.

Edward Johnson was an assistant of Thomas Edison, who invented the light bulb in 1879.

(3) In 1882, just three years after the Edison’s light bulb was invented, Johnson wanted to brighten up a tree and so he hand strung 80 light bulbs on a Christmas tree in New York City. The tree was set up in front of a window and people were constantly looking at it. Edward Johnson later designed strings of Christmas lights that were sold by General Electric, Edison’s electric company. (4)

Early challenges/failures/attempts:

People distrusted electricity so they weren’t quite ready for electric Christmas lights. President Cleveland asked that their family Christmas tree be lighted with electric lights in 1895, lighting the way for Christmas light acceptance nationwide.

Another big challenge for the lights was cost. General Electric Christmas lights were very expensive. In today’s dollars, it would cost over $2,000 to pay for electricity and to have a wireman, now known as an electrician, install them.

What changes/improvements/modifications have been made to this invention?

(4) A young man, at the age of fifteen, can be credited with making Christmas lights available to the normal consumer. Albert Sadacca suggested to his family, who had a small novelty lighting company, that they start to sell Christmas lights. The first year they only sold 100 strings of white lights. The second year, they painted the bulbs brightly in an array of colors and sold much more. Albert and his two brothers started the NOMA electric company earning millions of dollars. The NOMA Company was the largest Christmas light producer for decades.

There have been many different styles of Christmas lights over the years, like Bubble Lights! (5) Bubble lights have a round base with a colored light in it and a tube with methylene chloride, a liquid that has a low boiling point which allows the liquid to bubble at low temperatures.

For the past 40 years, Christmas Fairy Lights have become the most common light. (6)

Christmas lights are still improving. In fact, many cities are switching over to LED lights. (7) These lights use less power; therefore, they are less expensive to run. And, LED lights last much longer. The main drawback is that they cost a lot more to buy than incandescent lights, but they save a lot of money over time.

Another advancement that is available is solar powered Christmas lights for outdoors. These are also expensive to buy, but save even more money than the LED lights. Currently, the solar lights are not as bright, but will hopefully improve over time.

What affect has this invention had on people’s lives? Or the world?

Electric lights have given people better, safer lighting to put on their Christmas trees, when without them, there would have been more fires because of the candles that people used to use.

(8) Even today, Christmas trees can be a fire hazard. It is very important to use lights that are in perfect condition and UL approved (9).

(10) Christmas lights brighten up the darkest, longest nights of the year.

The light displays that can be found worldwide can be awe-inspiring.

Christmas lights make people happy!

Websites with Photos

Tuesday, December 14, 2010